I Could Get Used to This
by kierstengeary
Summary: The story of how Lily and James got together


She could feel his eyes on her as she had so many times previously. "James?" she asked sternly, not daring to hint at the pleasure she got from knowing he was staring at her. Although they were friendly enough to peacefully share a table in the cramped library, she had spent her first five years at Hogwarts loathing him and could not let him know that once he had stopped asking her out every day last year, she didn't find his company too terrible, except when he was staring, as he was now.

"Yes?" he said in that dreamy voice of his.

"If you spent half as much time studying as you do staring at me, you'd be top of every class."

"Perhaps," he admitted. "But dusty old books can't compete with your ravishing looks."

Lilly's cheeks went pink. _So much for secrecy_, she thought. Lily was sure she had caught some bug or ran into a hex that transported her into an alternate dimension because in no way, shape or form would she ever even consider fancying James Potter. He had more than enough of an infatuation with himself and his hair than was needed to begin with, so why on earth would Lily add to his growing crowd of admirers?

The trouble with this wasn't when James was asking her out, as he so often was, but when he would say things like that; when his silky voice would compliment her as though it were the most natural thing in the world for a boy with an assortment of girls pining after him to want only the one he couldn't have. It was in moments like these when Lily could actually see herself giving in and going on a date, perhaps several, with him but then she would remember his obsession with ruffling his hair so he _always_ looked like he had just dismounted his broom, his monstrous ego and his complete disregard for the rules. He was the exact opposite of whom Lily saw herself with: a tall, dark mystery man with neat, always combed hair, a shining record and nearly perfect grades.

As fate would have it though, Lily couldn't seem to identify this mystery man as when she began to try, images of James flitted through her mind. She saw him soaring around the Quidditch pitch, walking, books under his arm, calling after her or the smirk he was accustomed to after murmuring 'Evans'. But she was _not_ attracted to him because behind his smoldering eyes, mischievous grin and tousled tresses was an immature boy with a tendency to hex at least one person a day. Strange, though it was, that she find him in the library, and furthermore, with an open book in front of him, Lily was not a fool; he was clearly on yet another escapade to invite her on a date, which she would refuse, despite being in this strange universe where she might actually find James to be that mystery man she had been searching for.

Angrily, she closed her copy of the _Standard Book of Spells,_ _Grade 7 _and stormed away from the library, slightly disappointed, though she would never admit it out loud, that she didn't hear James' footsteps behind her. Lily found herself in the Astronomy Tower with little recollection of how she got there, which was common for her infuriated flees from Potter. Seeing this as good an opportunity as any to study for the test that would inevitably come in Astronomy, she pulled out her telescope and fixed her view on the stars. Much to her dismay, Lily was unable to identify any of the constellations that she had learned about in the past weeks. Instead, she found herself staring at stars that had rearranged themselves into a name: _James, _so a confused and frustrated Lily packed up her belongings and headed to the Gryffindor tower for a calming cup of tea.

She had just sat on the most comfortable armchair in the tower and poured her cup of tea when the four Marauders entered the tower through the portrait hole. Lily sank into her seat and quietly sipped her tea, hoping to somehow blend into the material of the chair and avoid any unwanted attention.

"Evans!" Potter hollered wearing his trademark smirk, "Mind if we join you?"

Before she had the opportunity to answer though, the four boys plopped down into the surrounding armchairs and poured themselves tea. In an attempt at a speedy getaway, Lily downed the rest of her tea in one gulp, nearly choked, slammed her teacup down on the table and lunged toward the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory.

She froze when she heard Peter Pettigrew, who had been sitting next to her, exclaim, "Oho! Would you look at this!" Lily slowly sank back into her seat to see what demanded her attention. "I see a heart in your tea leaves!" Peter turned to address James directly, "Looks like this is your year, mate!"

"Now, now Peter. I would hardly put my confidence in tea leaves foretelling a future for myself and Miss Lily, here," James motioned toward her. "However, it couldn't hurt to ask," James turned so he was facing Lily now. "Fancy a trip to the Three Broomsticks with me next Hogsmeade weekend?"

Lily had barely been able to process what was happening when she heard herself agree. The Marauders exchanged shocked looks that likely matched Lily's present facial expression while she tried, to no avail, to politely retract her previous statement and decided instead to act as though she had meant to accept his offer. She had to admit it was rather satisfying to watch James's face morph from his typical, confident gaze to an utterly confused look.

"Y-yes?" he stammered. "You, I mean-really?"

"Yes, would you like a definition or other further clarification?" Lily acted as though her response was not the exact opposite of everything she had felt toward Potter before this. James looked as though she had stunned him for another glorious moment or two before recovering and reverting to his usual, annoying persona.

"So, next Hogsmeade weekend then! Two weeks from Saturday!" James said. "I always knew you'd come around eventually. There's something undeniable about Potters and redheads."

"I bet," Lily said distractedly. "Well, g'night boys." She murmured as she made her way past them to the stairs that led to her dormitory.

To her displeasure, the next two weeks passed with alarming speed and with it, all her time to wriggle out of her date with Potter vanished as well. It did not help that her best friends, and girls with whom she'd never had any previous contact, were terribly jealous of the affair that Lily couldn't help but dread. The night before that fateful Saturday, Lily climbed into bed and tried to think of a last minute solution. Polyjuice Potion wouldn't work because that needed a month to brew, not to mention her lack of the necessary ingredients. She doubted she could successfully Transfigure herself into someone else and Transfigure someone willing into her for the date tomorrow. She could always hex James in hopes that he would suddenly realize that she was not the desirable girl he seemed to think she was but that had never worked before. With a sigh, Lily accepted that she would have to endure light conversation with James over Butterbeers the next day and figured that it wouldn't do any harm for her to make the best of it: after all, he was mildly interesting and at the very least, not difficult to look at. She decided that she had best get to sleep because showing up for a date looking and feeling tired did not qualify as making the best of it.

Lily was shocked to find when she woke the next morning that her stomach was not filled with lead and her steps were, if possible, easier to take than usual. She couldn't be feeling…giddy about her date with Potter, could she? The bounce in her step did not go unnoticed by her friends who teased her relentlessly through breakfast. Suddenly, the girls stopped and turned to look off to the left, toward the back of the Great Hall. Confused, Lily brought her gaze to meet theirs and watched as James Potter traipsed over to her.

"I do believe we have a date," he mused, extending his hand to her. She tried to ignore the giggles from her friends and the ever-rising heat in her cheeks while she accepted his hand and swung her legs over the bench. Lily pointedly dropped Potter's hand once she was on her feet but walked close enough beside him that their arms brushed as they moved toward the Great Hall's doors.

"Is it always like this?" she murmured, painfully aware of every pair of eyes on her.

"Hm?" James looked over to her, confused.

"Are you entirely unaware of the number of people staring at us?" She found it hard to believe that he didn't notice that almost every girl in the Great Hall was gaping at them.

"Well, to answer your question, it must always be like this since I had never noticed until you just pointed it out."

"Oh, to live the life of James Potter," she mumbled under her breath. He was blissfully oblivious to the fact that hundreds of people were staring at them and even when it was brought to his attention, he continued to walk with his shoulders back and his head held high while Lily had to fight the urge to duck her head and shuffle out of the Great Hall.

James faked shock, "I'll have you know, Lily Evans," he reached to open the door and motioned for her to pass through ahead of him. "That it is not as easy as it may seem to be this wildly attractive and incredibly fanciable."

"I think what you meant to say was arrogant," she raised an eyebrow but her smile betrayed her.

James laughed and smiled at her, "do my ears deceive me or did the ever serious Lily Evans just make a joke?" He fashioned another look of mock surprise while they passed by Filch the caretaker and through the front doors of the castle. They spent the majority of their journey to Hogsmeade trying to pinpoint exactly _when_ Lily Evans decided to go and get funny and why James hadn't been alerted immediately. To accompany their playful banter and warm smiles, the few leaves gathered on the ground occasionally let out, when prompted by a carelessly placed foot, a soft _crunch_ and the wind whistled while playing with the hems of their robes but, much to James's relief, didn't dare touch his carefully fashioned locks. The sun beamed down on the pair walking and laughing and seemed to smile and wink, equally as pleased as they were.

"No, no. It can't have been fifth year. If I remember correctly, you shot me a wicked bat bogey hex after I asked you out for the umpteenth time by telling you that my love for you burned as brightly as your hair! This new-and-improved, funny Lily would've laughed and accompanied me on a date!"

"Well, if you had seen yourself with the bat bogey hex, you would've thought it was funny too but if you insist that I hadn't a wonderful sense of humor then, I suppose I must have developed it in sixth year!"

"But that isn't an option either because we were something of friends in sixth year and I, being the utterly hilarious person I am, would've taken notice that you had suddenly and unexpectedly grown a funny bone! Have you any recent experiences with Skele-Gro, perhaps?"

Lily thought for a moment before answering, "I can't say I have."

"Curious. Well I think we can both see what's happened, then."

"Go on," Lily said expectantly, waiting to see what rubbish was about to escape James's mouth.

"You clearly are benefitting from my excellently excessive sense of humor from merely being in my presence. There's really no need to thank me but," James shrugged nonchalantly, "you're welcome." Lily was laughing too hard to answer when Madame Rosmerta, the barmaid at the Three Broomsticks, asked what she could get for them so James went ahead and ordered two Butterbeers and continued, "but evidently, Evans, you've taken more than you can handle, seeing as I'm the serious one right now." This only increased Lily's hysterics, which she was forced to control when Madame Rosmerta returned with two Butterbeers.

Once Lily had control of herself again, she took a sip of Butterbeer and told James with a completely straight face, "You can definitely take it back then. That was enough laughing to last a lifetime."

"Perhaps for a lifetime as Lily Evans but, you see, in the life of James Potter, laughter is a frequent and lengthy visitor who often is preceded by harmless magic."

"Harmless, huh?" Lily said, raising her eyebrows over her Butterbeer and took a sip to hide her smile. "Like that time you lifted a first year into the air by his ankle?"

"Was he harmed?" James looked pointedly at Lily. "That's what I thought. So, I rest my case: harmless." James took a long pull off his Butterbeer and gazed at Lily who looked like she was about to fall into another fit of laughter. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. It's nothing," Lily said between giggles.

"It's clearly something."

"It's just that you have, as suddenly as I developed a sense of humor, grown a white, foamy mustache."

James looked for anything to check his reflection in but was unsuccessful. With quickly reddening cheeks, he wiped his upper lip with the sleeve of his robes, "And now I've lost my mustache as quickly as you lost your sense of humor," James added with a wink.

Lily's cheeks went pink but she smiled at him, thoroughly shocked that she was actually enjoying herself. "So, what was it like growing up magical?"

"Normal, I suppose…or not, when compared to how you grew up. But I don't know much about Muggles, so I have nothing to compare it to. What was it like being magical in a Muggle family?" James awaited her response eagerly.

"It was far from normal. For instance, Petunia, my sister, and I would plant a p[

'garden and her flowers would take weeks to bud, while mine were in full bloom almost immediately. Or after I got my hair trimmed, it would grow back to how I liked it practically overnight. Or I could make animals obey me without any training, almost like Cinderella—"

James nearly spit out his Butterbeer, "Like _what_?"

"What? Cinderella?"

"Yes, what is that? An illness?"

"No, of course not! It's a fairytale! I can't believe you've never heard of it! I suppose wizards have different fairytales though, so there's another difference."

"That sounds terrifying, and you tell it to children?"

"It's about a girl who has to live with her evil stepmother and work as a servant with the help of mice and birds. But then she meets her fairy godmother and she magically gets a beautiful gown and carriage to go to the ball and meet the prince. But her fairy godmother's spell only lasts until midnight so she has to hurry off to avoid being caught and in her haste, she leaves behind a glass slipper so the prince goes to find the girl whose shoe it is because he wants to marry her. In the end, he finds her and they get married and live happily ever after."

"Sounds like a badly cast spell if it only last till midnight, if you ask me."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Muggles don't know magic exists though so how should they know and it's just a bedtime story for little kids. What were you told?"

"Things like the Tale of the Three Brothers," he shrugged. Upon noticing Lily's vacant expression, he continued, "You know, three brothers are traveling when they come to a river that's too dangerous to cross so they use a charm to make a bridge and are met by Death. He feels cheated that they didn't die trying to cross the river so he pretends to offer them gifts for their cleverness. The oldest asks for an unbeatable wand, the middle asks for an object that can bring back the dead and the youngest asks for a way to get past Death without being followed—an Invisibility Cloak. The oldest brother is killed when someone wants his wand and the middle brother kills himself because he realizes there's no other way to truly be with his dead loved ones. The third brother comes out from under the Invisibility Cloak after living safely for a long time, hands down the cloak to his son and welcomes Death."

"Bit morbid, don't you think?"

"Perhaps but less depressing than a fairy godmother who can only cast spells that last until midnight."

Lily laughed again and said, "Whatever you say."

"So how did you find out you were a witch?"

"I told you: I could do things my sister couldn't. Although, at first, I just thought I was a freak because that's what Petunia thought but then I—" _met Severus and he explained magic and the Wizarding World to me_ she was going to say but it didn't seem like the right thing to bring up on a date, especially when it was going so well. "I got my letter from Hogwarts and you know the rest, I'm sure."

The two spent the rest of their time laughing and talking about magical versus non-magical childhood and only stopped when they noticed how empty the Three Broomsticks had become.

"Merlin's beard! It's nearly 5 o'clock!" James blinked at his watch and half expected the time to change to 1 but when it didn't, James paid for the countless Butterbeers he and Lily had drank and scurried back to the castle with Lily.

Filch greeted them rather grumpily when they reached the entrance of the castle and hurried to the Great Hall for dinner. The moment the pair crossed the threshold, every eye in the Hall turned to them. James gulped and whispered to Lily, "Well it's never been quite like _this_ before."

But Lily quickly realized that the girls were neither glaring at her nor gazing at James, instead they were all focused on James's and Lily's hands, which happened to be intertwined and held tightly together. The boys seemed to be focused on the same thing but without the thinly veiled expressions of disappointment. Even the teachers at the staff table looked slightly astonished that two previously sworn enemies stood just inside the doors of the Great Hall, their fingers laced together and cheeks slightly flushed. Lily considered for a moment, how incredibly satisfying it would be to spontaneously kiss James Potter in front of the entire student body, not only would the looks on everyone's faces surely beg for a laugh but Lily also thought that it wouldn't be too terrible to kiss James Potter, period. Her cheeks reddened to match her hair and she began to walk with James following to the Gryffindor table where she sat with the seventh year girls and James walked a few steps further to sit with the Marauders. Once they resumed their seats, the Great Hall returned to reality and conversation resumed: conversation that Lily hoped was not about her.

This was not the case for the seventh year Gryffindor girls though. Lily had difficulty deciphering one question from the next but caught words and phrases from each. _"…been there all this time?" "what did you…" "…funny?" "…kiss?"_ All the questions came to a halt and everyone looked at Lily expectantly. "I'm sorry, come again?" This time the girls asked each question one by one and Lily answered honestly. "Yes, we were at the Three Broomsticks. I actually did enjoy myself. No, I wasn't aware it had been six hours. We talked about…" Lily pondered for a moment, "funny bones and childhood. Yes, he is very funny." Deciding that her straight forward answers were a little too pre-James, not-funny Lily, so she decided to stir things up a bit. "And finally, a lady doesn't kiss and tell."

Her final response was met with silence and mouths hung open. Lily promptly finished eating, stood from the table and sighed, "You girls are going to catch Cornish Pixies if you don't close your mouths." She turned to the door and began to walk, aware that she had more than a few sets of eyes on her but was able to maintain an easy pace. She liked this new, confident, mysterious side of herself and thought that James was to thank. _Maybe_ that _could be accomplished with a kiss_, she thought with a little grin.

She had just entered Gryffindor Tower and took a seat on her favorite armchair when the portrait hole opened again and none other than James Potter climbed through. He sank down into the armchair next to Lily's and broke the silence with "did you _see_ everyone's faces?" They laughed for what seemed like hours with broken bits of dialogue interspersed that were quickly drowned with more laughter. "And did you see Dumbledore's reaction? He actually had to shake his head to stop staring at the spot we stopped in! But wait till you hear the best part: there's a rumor going around that we spent the _entire six hours_ snogging! I think our lips would be numb, don't you?"

Lily blushed and giggled quietly, suddenly feeling a little guilty about not being entirely honest with her friends about the kissing. "But you didn't…?" They both said at the same time. Lily gestured for James to go first and he said, "I didn't entirely dismiss the idea but I didn't confirm it either."

"Good, because when asked, I said that a lady doesn't kiss and tell and all the seventh year girls looked like I had just told them I wanted to snog Dumbledore."

"No! That's brilliant!" James's eyes sparkled while he gazed at Lily. "Perhaps you actually have grown a funny bone, but I can't imagine when that could've happened without me noticing."

"It's always been there; if you had just taken the time to actually talk to me instead of asking me out at every opportunity, you would've noticed it," she smiled slyly, sure he was doubting it in his head but if that meant they would continue their easy banter, she didn't mind.

Before James could respond, the portrait hole swung open again and the voice of Sirius Black floated in to them, "We, the residents of Gryffindor Tower, would like to enter our common room. However, we would all like to make sure that we aren't interrupting any shagging that may be taking place. Could we enter without causing such interruption?"

James called back to him, "Well, we actually-" But his response was cut short when the other Marauders entered.

"Agh! I knew you weren't being serious! Because that's my job." Black muttered before yelling toward the portrait hole, "It's safe to come in!"

There was a flood of students, all with wide eyes as if they expected to see Lily and James attacking each other rather than sitting, talking and laughing together. _This is going to be quite an adjustment for everyone_, Lily thought.

Word traveled fast about Lily Evans and James Potter. Naturally, everyone at Hogwarts was interested in the incredibly talented, star Quidditch player and unnaturally, the top-of-every-class, gifted with a wand Head Girl. The duo evaded questions about what exactly what was happening between the two of them which only caused the rumor mill to turn faster. James and Lily were all anyone could talk about and Lily, for one, was not used to this much attention. Sure, she had been known as the girl who could outperform fourth years on tests in her first year but no one gossiped about a prodigal Muggle born as much as they did the girl dating the Quidditch captain. It was undeniable that there was chemistry between the two of them but was that enough to overcome the definite differences? Lily spent her free time in the library while James could be found soaring high above the Quidditch pitch. Lily always had a neat appearance while James actually went out of his was to look unkempt and windswept. All the teachers spoke highly of Lily and while they couldn't deny that James had talent, they were doubtful that he was working to his full potential. Although they were Head Boy and Girl, it was clear that Lily took her role more seriously than James did his.

Lily sighed, exhausted from the constant attention and self-doubt about her new relationship. In the two weeks since her trip to the Three Broomsticks with Hogwarts's most desirable boy, she and James could often be found walking hand in hand to class or in the Gryffindor common room chatting over tea. They hadn't become _that couple_ though; James had Quidditch practice and frequently stirred up trouble with his fellow Marauders and Lily still passed time in the library, studying for tests that hadn't yet been announced. Lily's studying was too often punctured with thoughts of James though, which lead to wondering about what was happening between them because if Lily was being honest, she was just as curious as the rest of the school was about her and James. She couldn't be sure if James would walk into the Great Hall with his arm draped around some new girl because he only pursued Lily for the chase. His past didn't exactly dispute this either, because his typical relationship lasted little more than four weeks and Lily feared that she would be shoved aside by his next Girl of the Month.

"Lily? Hello? You still with me here?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just, uh…lost in my thoughts, I guess," Lily could tell her cheeks were slowly but surely reddening to match her hair.

"Yeah, are you okay? You space out a lot more than you used to," James genuinely looked concerned.

_Well I'm actually very concerned with what your intentions are and what's going to happen between the two of us and scared about my quickly growing feelings for you_ was the honest answer but in an attempt to forfeit the attention, Lily settled for, "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. But how are you feeling? Big match today."

James glanced around to make sure no one else was listening, lowered his voice anyway and looked directly into her eyes, "Actually, I'm pretty nervous. It's the first match of the year, my first match as captain _and_ it's against Slytherin. Talk about having the cards stacked against you."

"You have nothing to worry about. You're the best Seeker Gryffindor has had in ages. All you have to do is catch the Snitch early and the match is as good as yours."

James scrunched up his nose and his lips broke into a smile, "You're so cute when you pretend to like Quidditch." Lily smiled; sure she would've been embarrassed if anyone other than James had pointed out her lack of interest in the sport. "I suppose, win or lose, I'll still have you, right?" His eyes looked hopeful, like he actually doubted that she would continue dating him if they lost today.

"I make no promises," she laughed. "I'm obviously only interested in you for your Quidditch abilities. Well, that and the hair."

James smiled and glanced at the portrait hole, "I guess I'd better get going. I'll see you down at the pitch?"

"I doubt you can make out anyone's face from that high in the air but yes, I'll be there."

"Well that's reassuring, at least."

"Good luck!" she called as he climbed out of the portrait hole and into the hallway. Lily hurried up to her dormitory to gather her red and gold scarf before heading down to the Great Hall to meet her friends. On the walk to the Quidditch pitch, Lily was bombarded with questions about James's expectations for the match today. She thankfully evaded having to answer, as the roar from the crowd would've drowned out any response she could've given. Happily, she chanted with the rest of the crimson and gold sea "Go, go Gryffindor!"

Fourteen players walked on the pitch, broomsticks at their sides and Lily spotted James when he stepped forward to shake the Slytherin team captain's hand. The players mounted their brooms, kicked off the ground and soared into the air. Madame Hooch released the two Bludgers, the Golden Snitch and then, with a blow of her whistle, tossed the Quaffle into the air and began the match. Lily tried to follow the Snitch's path but she quickly lost it when it zoomed away, leaving only a streak of gold in its wake. She watched James to see if he had any idea where the Snitch had gone but he looked as clueless as she was so she redirected her attention to the Quaffle and watched as Slytherin scored goal after goal.

After fifteen minutes of playing time, Slytherin was leading 120 points to 20 and Gryffindor didn't show signs of a recovery any time soon. But then, there was a crimson streak zooming toward the ground at breakneck speed. The player pulled up out of the dive in time to fly around the pitch, one hand held high.

"And Potter recovers the Golden Snitch! 150 points for Gryffindor!" the announcer wailed.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle once more and yelled, "Gryffindor wins!" The crowd around Lily erupted in cheers and she joined in, happy to be a part of such a great force. The crowd as a whole trudged back up to the castle and into the Gryffindor common room and awaited the arrival of their team while they played music, laughed, danced and celebrated the victory. The portrait hole swung open and the seven Quidditch players entered, beaming at the crowd. James was quickly surrounded by admiring fans; he shook the hands of countless boys, thanked innumerable fawning girls and was clapped on the back by each Marauder before he broke away from the crowd and walked toward Lily.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about," she said, smiling at the authentically windswept, exceptionally handsome Quidditch captain.

"You're still cute when you pretend to like Quidditch," James told her and she blushed, staring into his brown, unwavering eyes.

Lily was suddenly aware that his face was merely inches from hers but didn't dare to break their eye contact. She felt his lips, warm on hers and leaned into the kiss, draping her arms around his neck and placing one hand in his fantastically disheveled hair. James slung his arms around her waist and they didn't move for either mere seconds or an eternity—it was impossible to tell. When they broke apart and returned to the common room from their little universe, all conversation had silenced and all eyes were fixed on the couple, still gazing into each other's eyes.

"You know, Evans, I could get used to this," James smirked.

"You know, Potter, I think I could too."


End file.
